


It's just a fling, right?

by ofthelabyrinth



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Beach, Annie Cresta-centric, Annie is a barista, Chance Meetings, F/M, Finnick Odair-centric, Finnick is a surfer, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Casual Dating to Soulmates, Modern Era, Summer Vacation, dont report me, summer flings, yeah i stole the name of the cafe from h2o: just add water
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:54:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24598615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ofthelabyrinth/pseuds/ofthelabyrinth
Summary: It was supposed to be temporary. They didn't expect it to unravel this way.
Relationships: Annie Cresta & Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta & Johanna Mason, Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen & Finnick Odair
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. 1. Introductory Igloo

**_Introductory Igloo;_ ** _a frigid, blue raspberry drink so cold you would think you were in the North Pole!_

District Four, a tiny beach town, was surrounded by ordinary towns (no District _Twelve_ or even _Three)._ A tourist location, with a year-round population of 1,600 people, and the current summer residence of Annie Cresta. She had just completed her junior year at Trident University. She entered at behest of her parents, who decided that summer near the ocean was preferable to a summer spent with them at home.

She wasn’t upset with them for their decision, understanding that she needed to explore places that weren’t her college or hometown before becoming too reliant on their familiarity. She picked out an apartment near the center of town, so she had plenty of places to apply for jobs. 

Before she finished unpacking, she went for a walk, to see both potential places of employment and the ocean. She noticed that a restaurant, tourist clothing store, café, and bookstore were all hiring. So she took an “APPLY ONLINE” flyer from each store. 

With that out of the way, she moved on to her real goal: seeing the deep blue sea. It was a 10-minute walk, but Google Maps severely misled her, and the journey instead took her to a restaurant, “Beaches ahead!” instead of the actual beach. Once she was there, she had acquired so much sweat she ran straight into the water. 

By the time she was done swimming, she had spent an hour on the sand, watching the waves, the surfers, the birds, just watching everything unfolding around her. There was a group of surfers in particular that caught her eye, but she couldn’t figure out why. She ended up spending a decent amount of time watching a tall, brown-haired girl, short, blond boy, and tall light-haired boy, ride and wipe out on waves.

Annie heard back from the clothing shop and the café, she had experience as a waitress, so she figured the café was the way to go. When Annie finally showed up to the JuiceNet Café on her first day, the redhead didn’t expect many customers. How many people could possibly want to come to a store that served only juice, scones and, internet access when there were ice cream places and real cafés right next door?

It turns out, a lot of people were interested. On her first day, she was swamped and had only her prior work experience as a waitress to keep her afloat. Annie is pretty sure that she spilled at least three drinks, mixed up multiple people’s Cheerio Cherries and Watermelon Warehouses.

When she wasn’t messing up drinks, she was ringing up orders. She had no time to begin to get herself acquainted with the patrons and layout of the café. She instead relied on her single previous visit to keep her from running into mysterious nooks and crannies. It was only by the grace of some higher deity that she didn’t get fired in the first hour, and once she went home, she was fast asleep before her head even hit a pillow.

The next days were better, just as crowded, but now that she was getting in the hang of the cash register and layout, she had time to slow down during lulls in foot traffic. During these lulls, she could start to observe both her coworkers and the patrons. 

The first person she connected with was a tall brunette named Johanna Mason, who was infamous for her poor customer service. Still, her drinks were so good she got away with the occasional verbal evisceration of an annoying client. In fact, it seemed to be something that people bet on. 

She could regularly hear patrons claiming that “the next person Johanna screams at will be a blonde.” Or declaring specifics, “I’ll bet you five bucks that Haymitch will fall victim next.”

Haymitch Abernathy was the most frequent victim of Johanna’s outbursts, likely because he was the ablest to take it and was always there. Of course, this meant that bets regarding Haymitch specifically were frowned upon, if not outright banned depending on the person. It was quirks like this that turned the JuiceNet from a place of work to a place of enjoyment in Annie’s eyes, and she could understand why so many people frequented it.

Three distinct groups came through JuiceNet. Each had specific orders and an expertly calculated likelihood of the “Johanna Blow Out.” 

Beetee, the manager who’s main personality trait was being too intelligent to work there, made an equation specifically for the “Blow Outs.” Annie had trouble understanding exactly why this behavior was encouraged. The more comfortable she grew in her job, the more confused she became. 

The first group of customers were your run of the mill tourists, they rarely stayed for very long, just took their order and left. For the most part, they created their own drink, wanting to get the experience but not take a risk with a juice they might not like. Whenever a tourist came in, there was a 3.7% chance that Johanna would snap.

The second group took the shape of the average citizen of their lovely little beach town, mainly regular adults, kids, and college students. They all had orders with no room for change. There’s always some experimentation before they come across the perfect drink for them, but once created, there was no hesitation. Within Annie’s first three days of work, she had already memorized numerous individual orders. The Johanna risk for this group was 7%, 0.4%, and 5% for adults, kids, and college-aged people, respectively.

The last, most infamous group was the athletes, such as beach volleyball players, tennis players, and surfers. The athletes were different from the regulars for two significant reasons, the first being frequency of appearance, most athletes came three to four times a week. 

The second reason was one of the sources of infamy: this third group liked to mess around with drinks. Never getting the same drink twice, and never ordering from the menu. A solid quarter of the athlete population carried actual pieces of paper to write down what drink combinations they have tried out. 

The biggest reason the athletes were so notable was the Johanna Blow Out chance. For most of the athletes, the percentage rested around 12%, but there were two exceptions to the rule. Names whispered enough to make Annie as scared as one can be in a brightly lit, joyful, highly populated, and loved café. _Katniss and Finnick._

Whenever they came in, which is Annie’s four days of employment, neither had shown their face, the 12% skyrocketed to 68% together, 70% with Finnick alone, and 59% with Katniss alone. Annie spent a lot of time trying to glean what it was about these two that had such a substantial effect on the Johanna, who she was quickly becoming friends with. But these attempts garnered no results. 

_It seems,_ she thought _, I will have to wait until I meet them for answers._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm not over Finnick's death, even though it's been almost a decade. What about it?


	2. 2. Cheerio Cherry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cheerio Cherry; this smoothie with more than a splash of cherries is as unique as a friendly stranger and as familiar as an old friend!

**_Cheerio Cherry;_ ** _this_ _smoothie_ _with_ _more_ _than_ _a_ _splash_ _of_ _cherries_ _is_ _as_ _unique_ _as_ _a_ _friendly_ _stranger_ _and_ _as_ _familiar_ _as_ _an_ _old_ _friend!_

It was a sunny Monday at about three PM when they finally arrived. She was three weeks into her job, and the supposedly “almost daily” regulars had yet to come. Apparently, Johanna explained on Sunday, they were on a hiking trip. The timing of Johanna’s explanation made Annie feel a bit foolish. Only she would ask a question that would be answered naturally less than 24 hours later.

She felt a likely illogical amount of surprise when the group finally walked in. It seems that Finnick and Katniss were the surfers she had watched from the beach on her first day in town. Fate had always liked to be a major player in her life. Whether it was getting accepted into a college that specifically attended to her skillset or getting stuck with parents who somehow knew her every thought. Annie felt foolish for not considering that she had technically met the ringleaders of District Four’s most infamous group. To be fair, they never saw her, and she noticed them from a significant distance, so why would she think that fate would push her so firmly in their direction?

It turns out, the workers at the JuiceNet Café weren’t exaggerating the loudness of the athlete clique, and yet they also were? The group had somehow managed to balance the act of having a good time and talking loudly while still not disturbing the other customers in a way that must have taken years of experimentation.

_They_ _do_ _it_ _so_ _well,_ Annie thinks, _it_ _should_ _really_ _be_ _considered_ _an_ _art_ _form_.

Her attention was only half on the large group of about 12. It was an incredibly busy day for no understandable reason. An ordinary café would be able to pin this on the lovely weather. But the JuiceNet was no typical café. Annie was quickly developing a hypothesis that the popularity of the café had less to do with weather and more to something weird and magical, like the phases of the moon. There was absolutely no predicting the density of the café. It was just as likely to be packed wall to wall in the middle of a hurricane as it was a sunny day without a cloud in the sky. 

To Annie’s surprise, this soon-to-be exponential increase of revenue did not dissuade the most notorious member of the congregation from attempting to introduce himself. Emphasis on _attempting_. Every time he got out a “Hi,” “Hey,” or “Hello,” he was interrupted by some customer or employee. It became incredibly comical to the extent Annie felt like she was bonding with a man who hadn’t spoken more than 5 unique words to her.

The bonding seems odd, and while it was occurring, Annie realized that she would not be able to explain it to anyone else, ever. Who else would ever understand the immense humor that came from a man trying to say “Hey.” Only for a woman to go in, after tying up her _horse_ with a fresh bit of hay in its mouth, and order a juice? All qualms about inside jokes Annie previously held (she was adamant that they were always in poor taste, designed to exclude people) disappeared entirely. Some people just would not be able to understand the odd insanity that comes from utterly mundane situations.

It wasn’t until the store was about to close––the athletes decided to sit and talk for three whole _hours._ Annie had a suspicion why––that he finally got the chance to say a sentence it was taken from him, or so it seemed. Unfortunately for him, or maybe both of them, the second he slid over to the bar area and used a doubtlessly practiced move of perfectly arranging his arm for maximum muscle appearance, Beetee decided to show up and declare closing time. Apparently, this was far from Finnick’s first rodeo. So he simply sighed and looked at her, indicating that he would officially introduce himself _eventually_.

After walking back to her apartment, she decided to continue to unpack her remaining things. Ignoring her tiredness and focusing on productivity. Annie unloaded miscellaneous kitchen supplies, a large box full of clothes for colder weather that her parents must have packed for her. There is no way she’d feel the need to bring multiple sweaters to the _beach_ before finally reaching her laptop and computer charger, which she had been desperately looking for for a _week_ straight. This struck an odd chord with her, giving the redhead a new determination to cook a real meal. It reminded Annie that for the last week, her diet consisted entirely of unhealthy junk that the Sims 4 (and maybe 1, 2, and 3) would consider a “quick meal.”

Because of this realization, she decided to go shopping. After changing out of the now incredibly gross and sweaty work clothes and taking a quick shower, she traveled to a nearby grocery store with no issues. For once, her phone GPS did not fail her. She probably should have taken this as an omen but instead thought nothing of it. On her seven-minute trek, she decided to make a nice lasagna. Then she realized it was Monday, and she had red hair that was a little too close to orange. She did not want to become Garfield the cat. The revelation almost made her change her meal. Still, at this point, she was far too invested in the simplicity and healthiness of cooking pasta to actually change the course of action. She never would’ve guessed that _this_ would be her first conversation with a specific man.

Two people walk into a grocery store. There is one container of pasta noodles left, and two people intending to reach for it. This makes exciting things happen.

_“_ I would say hello,” he declared, “but I have said it so many times I feel it’s likely redundant.”

“That is a fair observation,” she responded.

“Fair? I am Finnick Odair, as I’m sure you already know,” he grinned, “and I am known for my _genius_ observations. You insult me with words implying such mediocrity.”

“You got me there, on both accusations,” she countered after seeing that he made no move to correct the conversational gambit that was assuming the name comment was an accusation, “for someone with such a remarkable reputation, your last name remained far from the whispers.”

“There are a great many parts of me that are remarkable,” he paused for dramatic effect, and Annie knew full well the euphemism was entirely intentional, namely my stunning personality and unparalleled surfing skills.”

“And your outlandish ego, I’m sure.”

“Touche.”

Annie noted that, _he is a man of many words_ , even though she couldn’t quite figure out why she felt that was noteworthy. If she were more interested in STEM, she would probably already feel compelled to run studies on Finnick’s oddities that she had already discovered.

_That son of a bitch is also a man of many distractions,_ her mind supplied as she processed that he had snatched the pasta while she was wrapped up in conversation. _Sly bastard_.

In hindsight, she probably shouldn’t have laughed at her mom when the woman said some debate classes would help her social anxiety because now all Annie can get out is a meager, “That’s not very nice.” which she stated in what she hoped was a plain tone, but was far more likely a little too uneven, betraying her awkwardness. Annie decided to send a dirty look in his direction, hoping it balanced out her words at least a little.

“I suppose not,” he conceded, “to make up for it, you’ll have to come over to my house and eat the pasta with me. Come over at around 7?” Shortly after, he added, “you don’t have to, of course, but it’s a win-win for me while still balancing out the scales.” 

He found a scrap of paper in his pocket, wrote down his address, and handed it to her in a matter of seconds, leaving her incredibly confused and mildly intrigued.

It didn’t seem like an offer she _should_ take. Finnick probably didn’t even think she would come. Figured she would throw away the paper and be done with it, leaving him with the pasta and victory while she was distracted. The motivations she concocted for him gave far more compelling reasons to go for dinner than his actual invite. Spite is a potent motivator, after all. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 6, so she walked home. 

Once she was at her apartment, she put his address in her phone. He lived in the apartment complex a block or two down from her place, oddly enough. The short distance is what kicked her over the line. Her memory snagged on something her mom had told her before going to college, something about always telling someone where you’re going. So Annie sent a quick message over to Johanna. The latter was rapidly becoming her closest friend in this town and strode off into the evening for some pasta.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry that this took decades to publish, i can't guarantee that the next chapter is going to come out in a more timely manner but i do intend on continuing the fic!

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I'm not over Finnick's death in the slightest even though it's been almost a decade. What's new?


End file.
